Shadow Slave

Even after living through the horrors of the Southern Campaign and witnessing the chilling resolution of the Battle of the Black Skull, Sunny still paled at the sight of the enormous swarm of Corrupted Beasts. There were too many of them to count, but there had to be tens of thousands of translucent crustaceans advancing toward the island.

Even Nephis seemed taken aback- a rare sight, and not a welcome one. She instinctively outstretched a hand, as if summoning a sword could save them from the plague of Corrupted abominations.

"It's... it's alright."

Her voice was even but lacked confidence.

Sunny forced out a faint smile.

"How exactly is this alright?"

Nephis lingered for a moment.

"These creatures don't seem capable of leaving the water."

Sunny closed his eyes for a moment. Yes, the abominable krill were probably incapable of crawling onto the island and devouring them. However, they were more than capable of devouring the Azure Serpent. And with the old snake gone, nothing would prevent the dark butterfly from landing on the shell of the slain Great Monster.

"That's right. You are going to die."

He flinched and glared at the Sin of Solace, who had appeared out of nowhere and looked at him with dark glee.

The sword wraith laughed, and then whispered:

"Better yet, you are going to watch Nephis die. Isn't it poetic?"

Sunny tried to ignore the vile apparition, but this time, it was much harder than usual. With the words of the Sin of Solace still echoing in his ears, he forced himself to look away and stare at the river.

toward

with bloodlust and fury. That snake... did not know when to retreat. Or rather, it never wanted to. Its lust for slaughter and destruction seemed much greater than

admirable, really. What

to make a vice into a perverse virtue. The Azure

were, the serpent could only crush that

took, a thousand Corrupted creatures were going to sink their teeth into the Great Beast's flesh. Even though there was a vast gap between the two Ranks, it was not as insurmountable as that between the two Masters

powers, but it only possessed inconceivable physical might. Not all

And yet, and yet...

root for the great river

on, old snake...

of the azure leviathan was closing in on the rushing krill swarm, moments away from clashing with it. It

it was

Nephis swayed, pushed back by the shockwave of a demented, enraged roar. Even distorted by

The krill, however...

swarm like a battering ram. Sunny's

abominations...

those who had been closer to the Azure Serpent, were paralyzed completely, while those that had been further away were at least

then a little further still. He

whip, and a sudden explosion sent countless tons of water rushing outward in a crushing wave. The sonic boom was even louder than the

were completely obliterated by the tail of

from all sides, aiming to

jaws opened and snapped, grinding a

was like a drop in the

trying to turn its long snout into a drill. Sunny did not see how

waters of the Great River were stirred, forming a long whirlpool along the length of its colossal body. That underwater whirlpool was like liquid armor, the current powerful enough to